She had lost all of her old friends when she came here. Even Beth had given up on her after a couple of years of her claiming she was too busy with work to visit home or host Beth at her place. It had hurt her to slowly lose all of her old friends, and even now, she often wished she could call Beth and just tell her everything, but she knew she could never do that, and she knew a clean break was the only way forward. It wasn’t fair to keep pushing Beth away and expect her to not ask questions.
She had bought herself a couple of extra years here. When she had arrived, she had told people she was twenty-four. She hoped that her lack of aging wouldn’t be as apparent when people believed she was younger than she actually was. In human years, she would be thirty-two now, and she figured she could get another four or five years out of her looks before her lack of aging started to draw too much attention to her and she had to move on.
The only person who she kept in touch with from her old life was her father. Her mother had died when Rachel was in her early twenties, and she had no other family. Her dad traveled a lot, and they mostly communicated through emails and phone calls, something that had used to upset Rachel but she was now grateful for. She knew she would have to see him face to face at some point and come up with some explanation for her youthful looks, but she didn’t want to dwell on that. She would deal with it if and when it happened.
The door to the doctor’s office opened and Rachel glanced up. A woman was walking toward the window. She turned back to her screen, knowing it was Melanie’s turn to deal with the window. The woman sneezed and Melanie made a scared little squeaking sound.
“Will you take her?” she asked Rachel with a pleading expression.
Rachel laughed and nodded her head. Maybe a doctor’s receptionist wasn’t the best choice of career for her with her discomfort at discussing why she never got sick, but it was an even worse choice for Melanie, a self-confessed germophobe.
“Can I help you?” Rachel smiled at the woman.
“Yes. I’m here to pick up a prescription for my dad, Terrance Brown,” the woman said.
Rachel smiled and flicked through the signed prescriptions in the box. She found the right one and had the woman confirm Terrance’s address. She smiled and held the prescription out to her.
“Here you go,” she said.
The woman thanked her and left and Rachel turned back to Melanie.
“See? She wasn’t even sick. She was just collecting a prescription for her dad,” she said.
Melanie didn’t look convinced.
“She could still have a cold or something, you know. And if she didn’t when she came in, I bet she did by the times she left,” she said.
Rachel laughed and Melanie laughed with her.
“I know I’m crazy working here when I hate germs so much, but, I mean, no one really likes germs, do they?”
“No,” Rachel agreed.
“So, any plans for tonight? A hot date I should know about?” Melanie asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Fat chance of that,” Rachel said. “I’m going to grab some takeout and go home for a night of Netflix and chilling, where that actually means vegging out and watching TV.”
“Oh, but it’s Friday night,” Melanie protested. “Why don’t you come out for some drinks with me and Jo if you don’t have anything else planned?”
Rachel told her she would think about it, but she already knew she wouldn’t be going. The last time she had gone out with Melanie and Jo, she’d had a good time, but they had spent a large portion of the night talking to guys and flirting with them. Rachel hadn’t dated since the night she was turned into a bear shifter and she liked it that way. She still hadn’t figured out a way to have any sort of relationship with a guy with such a big thing hanging over her head, and she had no intention of seeking out other bears. The idea of cavorting with monsters who used women as breeding machines was too much to bear. She had had a few one-night stands, but they never really satisfied her and she had pretty much given up on those too.
By the time the office closed for the evening, Rachel was looking forward to a nice quiet few days to herself over the weekend. She figured she might go out and do a bit of shopping Saturday morning, but that was her only plan.
“So?” Melanie said as they grabbed their coats and handbags and headed out of the office. “Have you decided to come out with us tonight?”
“Maybe another time,” Rachel said.
“Boring,” Melanie said in a sing-song voice.
“Just tired,” Rachel laughed.
They locked up the office and headed for the parking lot.
“If you change your mind about tonight, just give me a call,” Melanie told her as she got into her car.
“Will do,” Rachel replied.
She got into her own car and put it into drive, pulling out of the parking lot and joining the flow of traffic. She debated where to go to eat and settled on the diner down the road from her. She could park the car at home and walk down to it and then maybe she could have a glass of wine with her food. Her mind made up, Rachel headed home. She parked and went inside, deciding that she might as well change out of her work clothes.
She went upstairs to the bathroom and brushed her teeth, and then went into her bedroom. She stripped off the black pants and white blouse and changed into a pair of denim leggings and a
